Ailing Hubble gains new life as manned missions sputter

No mission of NASA’s shuttle has been more exciting or successful than the one in 1993, when astronauts repaired the Hubble Space Telescope. After 11 days in orbit and a record five spacewalks, the crew of Endeavour replaced flawed components that had rendered Hubble’s pictures blurry.

In so doing they made the telescope all it was supposed to be: a spectacularly powerful window on the universe that could deliver crisp and breathtaking images of far-off galaxies.

(Hubble: NASA said Tuesday telescope will be repaired / 1999 AFP/Getty Images)

Astronauts have been back to the Hubble three more times. But the most important trip since 1993 will likely come in 2008. On Tuesday, NASA Administrator Michael Griffin announced a final service call to Hubble, reversing a decision by his predecessor, Sean O’Keefe, who had opted to let the space telescope die within the next few years rather than approve a mission that was seen as particularly risky after the Columbia disaster. This new mission will upgrade key parts and extend Hubble’s life to about 2013.

Griffin made the right call. This mission poses more risks than most, but preserving one of NASA’s most successful programs warrants it. The shuttle, moreover, has no other major duties besides completing the International Space Station, a program that faces an iffy future.

The shuttle’s relationship with Hubble underscores a powerful irony. The shuttle never succeeded in its mission of dramatically increasing the human presence in space. That is because human space flight was, is, and likely will remain extraordinarily expensive and dangerous. But the shuttle has done one thing fabulously well: nurture one of NASA’s most popular robotic programs.

Robotic missions were once secondary to the more glamorous manned missions. Now programs such as Hubble, and the Spirit and Opportunity rovers exploring Mars, are the stars while human space flight is in a prolonged identity crisis.

The shuttle is slated to die in 2010, largely unloved. Griffin said last year in a meeting with USA TODAY’s editorial board that it had been a mistake. The space station has failed to deliver much science or enthusiasm and has been orphaned by the Bush administration. The current plan, to send astronauts back to the moon and on to Mars, is based on the dubious premise that it can rekindle interest in human space flight by retracing small steps and giant leaps made more than 30 years ago.

If future Congresses or presidents pull the plug on this program, there may still be a role for astronauts — as cosmic repairmen.